Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I very much appreciate the comments today from my colleague Mr. Arsenault. Mr. Blaney also made several very important observations.
We are living in a pandemic in Canada. We are in the middle of a second wave and each government is implementing its own health measures. I believe that the act is very important. In Ontario, former commissioner Boileau, whose independence was unfortunately removed by Mr. Ford's Conservative government, had clearly said there was a decline in French.
This health crisis has been extremely difficult for many people, families, and seniors.It has affected long-term care centres. Ms. Lattanzio's appropriate motion, and the fact that we have five meetings left before the Christmas break could enable us to come up with a report, as my colleague put it so aptly.
Does this mean that we cannot reach agreement on an appropriate schedule and work plan in January when we return? Like Mr. Beaulieu, Ms. Ashton, Mr. Blaney and all our colleagues on the committee, I believe that language is very important. I had tabled a motion on this matter, but we did not have the opportunity to debate it. I do believe that we can reach consensus on the work to be done when we return.
I would at least like to begin with what we are experiencing today, which is the COVID-19 pandemic, and the relevance of what has been agreed since October 13. We could have begun our committee work on that date. Unfortunately, for reasons that I am still unaware of, we did not manage to come up with anything tangible for the communities we represent.
In my riding of Orléans There is a large francophone population, and it is one of the largest pools of francophones, one that I take pride in representing. franco-Ontarians expect us to deal with the crisis, but also with language. In her motion, Ms. Lattanzio referred to this.
I hope that I have your support. I believe that we could all agree on five meetings. However, dear colleagues, we need to submit a work plan to our clerk and our chair and come up with a list of witnesses to invite to the next five meetings.
As my dear colleague Mr. Arsenault pointed out, we could put our collective comments together and come to a consensus with a view to tabling a report in January. To be perfectly honest, I do not think that this study on languages will be possible with only five meetings.
I'm not sure whether to call it a compromise, but I would ask for your cooperation so that we can come up with a report this year with a view to something even better next year.